Telling
by autumn midnights
Summary: Rose and Lily have a late-night conversation about Rose's new boyfriend, and why she's nervous about telling the rest of the family. Not cousincest. Oneshot, rated T for safety.


_Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine._

_Author's Note: This is for the Canon Pairings Challenge over on the HPFC forum. The characters I chose were Lily Luna Potter and Rose Weasley. No incest, just cousinly bonding. _

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Rose sighed, rolling over. Usually, she got to sleep very quickly - she was certainly used to Lily's bed, thanks to the amount of time she spent at the Potters' home. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable, but that she kept thinking about a certain subject, a certain secret, over and over again. She couldn't get it out of her head, and such a thing was very annoying when she was trying to sleep. "Lily?" she whispered. "You still up?"

"Mmph," was the response, and a couple seconds later Lily turned over so that the two girls were facing each other. Although it was late, it was bright enough in Lily's room for them to see, thanks to the city lights outside. "What is it?" the younger girl asked, wrinkling her forehead in confusion.

"I can't sleep," Rose confided. It felt strange to be saying that, and for a moment she felt like a child again, toddling into her parents' bedroom and saying the same exact thing. Except she was no longer a child, she was seventeen years old and about to enter her last year at Hogwarts.

"Why not?" Lily had obviously been roused from sleep, but that didn't usually matter. Lily was the type of person who could stay up until four in the morning without getting tired, and it was only one-thirty. This wasn't even late for her - she had only gone to bed because Rose had. "Is it too early?"

The older girl couldn't help but roll her eyes. "One-thirty is only early in your mindset, Lily. But no, it's not that. I...kind of have something on my mind."

Lily propped herself up on her elbow, raising her eyebrows. "What're you thinking about? Hogwarts?"

"No. Well, sort of...more like a person." She took a deep breath, trying to find the courage to tell Lily what she had been keeping secret for the whole summer. She knew Lily wouldn't tell - surprisingly, Lily was good at keeping secrets, probably because the fifteen-year-old Slytherin had many of her own. "Before the school year ended, I started dating somebody. In private," she added quickly, alleviating any confusion the other girl might have had as to why she hadn't heard about this.

"Really?" Lily's voice carried a tone of surprise, and Rose was by no means shocked at her reaction. Rose had always been one of the well-behaved ones who followed both her parents' rules and the Hogwarts rules, unlike Lily, Roxanne, and James, who were all troublemakers. For her to have a secret relationship was definitely out of the ordinary. "Who is it?"

Pausing, the older girl again gathered up her nerve. She had wanted to tell somebody - keeping a secret was difficult - but she had never had the perfect opportunity to. She didn't want to tell most of the Weasley-Potter clan, but rather introduce it gradually, one person at a time, and it was often very hard to get alone time with somebody. "It's, er, Scorpius Malfoy," she whispered, her voice so low that even Lily had to focus to hear it.

"No way!" Lily looked delighted at this piece of news, although she too kept her voice quiet. "You're secretly dating Scorpius Malfoy? The bloke that Uncle Ron constantly warns you against?"

"Yeah." Rose glanced away from her younger cousin. "You can't tell anyone, all right?"

"Of course I won't! I wouldn't want to ruin your fun - oh, this is so exciting! I can't believe that you, of all people, are in a secret relationship with a Malfoy! That's more like something I'd do," she mused. She had already broken the mold by being the first - and only - Weasley-Potter to be Sorted into Slytherin, something that had caused a rift between her and James. "So, how long has this been going on?"

"Since May," Rose answered. "I was just helping him study, and then...it just led to more." She sighed. "I really like him, I do. And I'm sick of sneaking around - we haven't even been to Hogsmeade together, or anything like that. We just hang out in the library, and sometimes meet somewhere private -"

Lily cut her off, smirking. "And just what do you do when you're in private?"

"Lily! We - that's just not even your business." It wasn't like she and Scorpius had even gone too far, but it was still nobody's business. "I was going to say we met somewhere private if the library was too full. And I'm sick of it. I want to be able to go to Hogsmeade and walk around holding hands and introduce him as my boyfriend and all those things couples do." She let out a long breath. "You're the first person I've told."

"Well, you need to tell the rest of us," the younger girl answered, running a hand through her scarlet hair. "Once all of our family knows - well, it won't be so bad. Of course, there's the whole issue with James," she added grimly. James had apparently inherited Rose's father's prejudice against Slytherins, and it showed. He and Lily argued way more than a normal sibling pair, and he was constantly fighting with or playing pranks on Slytherins. Telling him that Rose was dating Scorpius Malfoy might be a bit of a problem.

"Merlin," Rose mumbled. "I'm not looking forward to telling him. Everyone else should be okay, I think - it's not like anybody is as prejudiced against Slytherins as him. Except my father, of course."

"How are you going to tell your parents?" asked Lily. "I can't imagine..."

"Me neither. Well, I think Mum would be all right with it, but Dad has already warned me against Scorpius so many times." It was almost a tradition for Rose's father to mention something about Scorpius Malfoy practically every year - usually along the lines of 'Make sure you get better marks than him' or 'Stay away from that Malfoy boy'. She hadn't been bothered by it before, since she and Scorpius hadn't talked much at all, but thinking back on it, it was annoying. "Any suggestions?"

"Tell your mum before your dad," Lily answered instantly. "Your mum's way better about Slytherins than Uncle Ron. Maybe she could...I don't know, get him used to the idea or something?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I haven't really been in this situation before."

"Neither have I," Rose groused. "I still need to tell everyone else one-on-one - there's absolutely no way I'm standing up and making some big announcement like Roxanne did with Alexandra Volante. I'm not doing that - I think it would cause a riot."

"Oh, come on. Not everybody would riot - look, everyone is fine with Roxanne dating a girl, so you dating a Malfoy shouldn't be that much worse." She tried to sound convincing. "Hopefully."

"Thanks for the encouragement," Rose said dryly, but her tone turned serious. "But no, thanks for letting me talk about all this. I haven't told anyone, and it's kind of hard to keep a secret. I like that you don't care at all."

"Of course I don't give a damn, Rose, I'm a Slytherin Potter-Weasley. It would be hypocritical for me to say that you dating a Malfoy is ridiculous. Of course, I must say, you're pretty lucky...that bloke is hot."

"Lily!"

"Well, he is," she answered. "Just because he's taken doesn't mean I can't appreciate the view." She rolled over. "Get some sleep, Rosie."

"Don't call me that." Rose adjusted her position, getting comfortable. "Good night, Lils."

"Night, Rose."

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**Let me know what you think :) This is a oneshot and will not be continued.**


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